Even on a soggy day in the parking lot of the Cedar Knoll Country Club, the car gleams like the little gem it is.

The raindrops are just beginning to fall as Gary Shepard of Hinesburg slips behind the wheel of the 1968 280SL Mercedes Benz. Heading for home, he’ll add only a couple of ticks to the 40,000 original miles displayed on the odometer.

The deep-throated rumble hints at the power lurking under the convertible’s hood as Shepard pulls away, trying to beat the heavier rain that moves in later that day.

“It’s just fun to drive,” said Shepard. “I’ve driven it over (to CKCC) a couple of times. I don’t like to let it sit out in the sun very long so I don’t let it sit for five hours while I’m playing golf.”

That’s not a problem this overcast Wednesday, but Shepard, who brought the car along for the interview, doesn’t want it getting drenched, especially without either its soft top or hardtop deployed.

Shepard has had the car for “four or five years,” sharing ownership with his father, Lloyd Shepard of Williston, since his uncle, Arlo Johnson, told the Shepards to “take anything” from his barn in Wells River. Johnson is the brother of Gary Shepard’s mother, Louise, and he had decided to move to Arizona after his wife, Marion, passed away.

“My uncle got it for a wedding present from his wife,” Shepard said of the car he calls “a family heirloom.”

“It was bought brand new. I’ve got all the slips on that,” Shepard said. “They loved cars. At the time, they lived in New Hampshire and they moved to Wells River.”

The Johnsons were involved in road rallying and similar activities. However, the Mercedes was more of an occasional touring car, making only one long trip, to New Orleans on the Johnsons’ honeymoon, according to Shepard.

“Back then, they didn’t drive it much,” Shepard said. ‘He just drove it around for a little bit and then he parked it. He had other vehicles. He would switch around from this to that to this to that. He couldn’t sit still; he had to drive something. He got into camping so he got a huge Winnebago and at 80 years old, he was driving to Arizona by himself.”

In 1978, Johnson stored the Mercedes in a heated garage. There it remained for three decades before the Shepards moved it to Hinesburg, putting the names of Lloyd and Gary on the title with the understanding that Gary would handle the costs of putting the 280SL back into running order.

“It was dirty and dusty under the cover in the garage. Other than that, the only thing I did to it was we trailered it down here, brought it to a mechanic and told him to go through it.”

The primary problem was the rust that had accumulated on the brakes during its years of storage. “Other than that, it didn’t need anything,” Shepard said.

However, the mechanic had a few words of wisdom for Shepard. “He said, ‘You don’t realize what you have here.’ He said it was different than any Mercedes he had worked on and he had worked on Mercedes before.”

In essence, the trim, white convertible had very few if any bells and whistles, which meant that all the car’s power was devoted to the engine and its four-speed manual transmission.

“You can go up through the gears, get her into fourth gear, just let up on the gas, be going like 40 miles per hour and then step on it and it throws your head back,” Shepard said. “It’s geared really, really low and it’s a fun car to drive.”

Shepard knows about driving fun cars. At heart he has been and still is Triumph Spitfire aficionado. He has a 1973 Spitfire he calls “a money pit” on which he did much of the work. “My Spitfire is a fun car to drive up and down a road like the McCullough Turnpike,” said Shepard, referring to the twists and turns of VT 17.

“This is a touring car,” said Shepard of the Mercedes. “You get it in and you go, ‘Oh, my god, this is just smooth.’ You drive down the road and you don’t feel a bump. It’s got power; it’s well built. You shut the door and it’s ‘thump’.”

Shepard doesn’t show the Mercedes; in fact, he’s shown his Spitfire only a time or two since it’s not in show shape. “Mine’s a driver, a 15-footer,” he said, adding, “it looks great from 15 foot away. You look at it and go, ‘Wow, that’s really nice’ but when you getup close and it’s, ‘Wow, there’s a little imperfection there and there’s an imperfection here’.”

Shephard still takes in the occasional car show, usually with his father. “He doesn’t drive anymore; he’s 88 so I keep it at my house. I go and bring him out for rides and things, like a car show. We’ll look at the cars but he doesn’t want to sit there all day if I was showing it,” Shepard said.

When Shepard has the Mercedes on the road, he attracts attention and questions. “Is it original? Where did you get it?” he said he’s asked. The other common comment is “I can’t believe it’s only got 40,000 miles on it,” he said.

The Mercedes’ color scheme of while with a blue interior and a dark blue hardtop also draws comments. “Some guys point out, ‘That is a rare color combination and that is amazing’,” he said.

Shepard and his wife, Helen, occasionally join other family members for a road trip. “My brother-in-law’s got an MG; my sister’s got an MR2,” he said. “We all get together with the convertibles and we’ll go down to Bennington and the Vermont Country Store. We’ll drive down there on a Sunday and drive back. (The Mercedes) is mainly a Sunday driver.”

Shepard is uncertain what the future holds for the 280SL except that he hopes it remains in the family. After all, it is a family heirloom.